Technological Advancements in

MonitorsBy Jed Zwanenburg

Who created the Monitor and when?

There was no specific person to step up and claim that they created it but there were a few companies that were making them first

The first company to manufacture a LCD Monitor was the Eizo L66

How do they work?

LCD Monitors work by having liquid crystals reacting with the electricity and information being inputted into the monitor.

The computer outputs information into the monitor which receives it and translates it into certain levels of energy which are then sent to the liquid crystals and cause each crystal to vibrate.

Each pixel has one liquid crystal that creates colour.

How do they help us?

Monitors can be used in hospitals to be used for operations or monitoring the heart rate of a patient.

They can be used in tandem with computers so that we can know where and when natural disasters.

They can also be used for recreation.

How have they changed?

Monitors have evolved from simple, Cathode ray tube monitors to bistable storage tube monitors (the first monitor that could store what had been displayed on screen), to LED (Light Emitting Diode) monitors, all the way to OLED AND AMOLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode and Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode).

The advancements have been incredible, in less than 60 years we have been able to advance monitors from large ray guns shooting at reactive sheets to incredibly thin monitors that display almost “Better than life” images.

What are some predictions on advancements?

I think that we can predict that monitors will get thinner, lighter and I think they will eventually become transparent.

If you watch the movie minority report you can see the monitors they have are like projections onto glass except without the projector.

This is actually present in our world, just not to the extent that they show it in the movie.

We actually have this technology in fighter planes such as the F-14B Super Tomcat which utilises the clear screen with projections on it as a HUD (Heads-up display)

How do LED monitors work?

Against common belief it isn’t actually millions of LED’s working together to flash and create different hues of colors to make the picture.

It is actually 2 layers, the front layer of LCD’s which are making up the pixels and the second layer behind it is comprised of LED’s

Originally the monitor was backlit with CCFL’s (cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps)

LED monitors contThere are now monitors that are called OLED monitors (Organic light emitting diode) that use less power, are less than a quarter-inch thick and can be rolled up

These monitors can go almost anywhere, like in your car’s windshield or in your shirt.

OLED monitors are solid-state devices that are composed of thin films of organic molecules that create light with the application of electricity.

OLED provides brighter, and “Crisper” displays than regular LED can.

How touchscreen monitors work

Resistive – this system consists of a normal glass panel that is covered with a conductive and a resistive metallic layer, the layers are separated and when the user touches the screen the layers connect in that spot.

Capacitive – a layer that stores electrical charge is placed on the glass panel of the monitor when a you touch this monitor some of the charge is transferred to the user and the decrease in charge is measured.

Surface acoustic – two transducers (receiving and sending) are placed along the x and y axis of the glass plate, also placed on the plate are reflectors that reflect an electrical signal sent from one transducer to the other it can locate where you touched the screen by using this method.

Video

Bibliographyhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/monitor.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_monitor

http://www.ehow.com/about_5459113_history-computer-monitors.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/oled.htm

Thanks!